I'll show you exactly what you need to do and say
to find amazing artists, who will create designs for $4 each,
that sell on print on demand platforms like Redbubble and Merch by Amazon.
I've personally used this method for years to earn thousands of dollars passively
to the point that I've been able to quit my day job.
I'll also show you how you can take this process to the next level once you're set up
with some tips that I've never shared before.
First of all, we're going to register on Upwork, which is free to sign up for,
so we can find the artists.
This is important, so please listen carefully to each step
because we're laying the foundation for finding artists that create outstanding work,
which will result in thousands of sales.
If one step in this process goes wrong, it can affect the whole thing.
Click "get started" and enter your email address, then it'll ask for your details.
You don't have to put a real name in here if you don't want to, that's up to you.
Password and location are self-explanatory and then we want to click "hire for a project"
Yes, we understand the terms, and "create my account"
When your account's been created, you can just click "Skip to job post" at the bottom of the page,
then "It's just me" when Upwork asks about your company.
For the title of the job, we don't need to put anything too complicated...
The artists on Upwork are used to working with people looking to sell on print on demand
so "T-shirt designer needed for $4 per design" is fine.
if you're focusing on something other than t-shirts, like if you specialize in making phone cases or something like that,
then specify that in the title.
For the job category, we're going to stick to "graphic design".
"Illustration" is an acceptable choice as well and can result in really interesting work
but it can be a more challenging category to work in, because the artists aren't necessarily used to
working with print on demand. This can cause all sorts of problems which is why we're going to
go with graphic design.
Now it's time to write a description of what we need.
Here's where it gets a bit more complicated so listen carefully.
Given that we aren't going to be the only advertisement that artists will be seeing, it's important to make it attractive to them
and worth their time, so we're going to make it clear that there's a significant amount of work available from the start.
"I need an experienced t-shirt designer to create 100 designs at $4 each"
Don't worry about having to pay upfront, this isn't required.
Instead, we'll be setting milestones for the artist to make sure that they're good and then we'll pay when we receive the work.
Now, we need to describe the job and how we'll work with the artist to set expectations from the beginning.
"I will send you an outline of what I'm looking for, and you will use your artistic ability to create something suitable."
And to ensure that the artist is familiar with print on demand,
we can literally say:
"I need the files to be in .png format with a transparent background, ready to upload to print on-demand websites"
Again, we'll reinforce the relationship with the artist by showing that we're ready to commit further and provide them with
positive feedback, which will enable them to get more work on the platform.
"I'm looking for a long-term contract and will supply you with more work and positive feedback in return for high quality artwork"
If you've got any examples of the sort of work that you're looking for, you can add them in here.
You can go on Redbubble or Amazon and screenshot some of the best sellers that you'd be happy to receive
from your chosen artist. This shows the sort of quality that you're expecting.
You don't have to do this, but it can help set expectations.
For this example, we'll go with some classic shirts from Redbubble:
"Oh For Fox Sake"
"Trust me, I'm a Dogtor"
and "Cats Against Cat Calls".
I'm just screenshotting the t-shirts to be able to attach as files for the artist to see.
If you do decide to add artwork, just put a note on the bottom of the description
saying that you've attached some examples of what you expect to receive.
Now click "next".
Here, we have the option of selecting what type of project it is.
We're going to choose "ongoing project" to show that there's more work available if the job's done to a high standard.
This shows that it's worth the time of the artist as we'll keep them on our payroll in exchange for high quality work.
Screening questions are important to make sure that the artist has got a good understanding of English.
Because if they can't answer a simple question in the beginning,
it's going to be a nightmare when it comes to getting them to understand what you want for your designs
Trust me, it'll save you a lot of hassle.
We'll click "add a question" and then create our own question.
Number one will be "How long have you been designing for?" just to see if they understand basic English and
it'll enable us to learn a bit more about their experience without having to read their entire profile.
And question two will be something that tests their ability to use their initiative.
I like to go with "Who was the Prime minister of the UK in 2016?"
This means that they'll have to understand the question and know how to find the answer by searching and filtering out irrelevant information.
Both helpful skills for later on if we're going to be working together.
You can use similar questions relating to your own country, or if you decide to use my questions, the answer is
Theresa May and David Cameron were both Prime Minister in 2016.
I'm going to be satisfied if someone replies with either name and especially happy if they go above and beyond with their answer
We're also going to tick that applicant's need to include a cover letter
as it's another hurdle that someone has to jump over to provide that they're worth further investigation.
This might seem a lot but as you'll find out, there'll be hundreds of potential applicants
and these initial steps save us a lot of time later.
For the skills section, all this stuff is optional.
We're going to tick "Clothing", and in the additional skills section at the bottom we'll type:
"T-shirt design" and "print on demand",
then select skill level intermediate.
The location of the artist doesn't matter, so we'll click worldwide.
We're going to set the availability to "anyone" and allow more than one freelancer to apply.
This is important because we're going to be shortlisting multiple candidates and testing the
best ones to see who we'll decide to work with, plus it makes the listing more attractive to artists
because they know there's more than one position available and therefore they're in with more of a chance to get the work.
If we only advertise for one freelancer and applicants can see that 20 people have already applied they might skip past it
and look at something else instead.
For the number of freelancers, we'll go with 5. Again this doesn't mean that we'll be hiring five people,
it just means that it's open to more applications.
The talent preferences section at the bottom is very important, even though it's optional.
Here, we can filter based on qualifications which we're going to use to our advantage.
You can leave it alone if you're wanting as many applications as possible, but it does open the floodgates for low-quality artists.
If you've got the patience to vet each one, there's nothing wrong with leaving it and allowing all the applicants
but at least change the talent type so you don't get agencies messaging you.
For the filtering, I recommend choosing "90% and up" to ensure that they have consistently good feedback
from clients that they've worked with. At least 100 dollars earned on the platform,
As well as conversational or better English, because a lot can get lost in translation when it comes to design work.
It's time to set our budget and we're going to go with paying a fixed price so we can pay for each design or set of designs.
There's an option to set individual milestones later on when we've chosen our artists so, although we've specified
a hundred designs in the brief, we can create a milestone such as one design for $4, and pay upon receipt.
So this is why we're going with a fixed price.
The budget's up to you. A hundred designs at $4 each comes to $400,
And that will be attractive to artists because they can see the potential earnings.
You can put that figure here and it doesn't mean you'll be paying them that, it just shows that it's a possibility.
Now it'll show you a summary, so make sure you're happy with everything and you can "post job now".
If you haven't already, you'll have to verify your email to proceed, which takes two seconds.
We'll then be taken to the invite page where we can invite freelancers that match our specification.
As you can see from the image preview on the left hand side they aren't necessarily what
we're looking for, so we're going to go and adjust the filters at the top. In the search,
type "Merch by Amazon" so it picks up anyone that's had involvement with print on demand.
This way, we only get a list of people who already have experience with print on demand and don't
need guiding through the process. We've only got 15 invites to use, so we're going to get
some of the top rated people straight away. "Earned amount" we'll set to $1k and above, "Job success": 90%
and above, and most importantly, last activity within the last two weeks so we know they're
still around and not wasting invites on people that don't use Upwork anymore. When that's done,
we'll just go down the list and invite anyone who seems relevant. If you've got the time to
spare, you can go into their portfolio and judge their work to see if you like it before you invite
but there's no guarantee that they'll accept your invite so I wouldn't spend too much time
investigating and getting attached to potential artists. Don't worry about what their hourly rate
is because we've got a fixed budget, so it's up to them if they're interested or not. Once we've used
our 15 invites we can leave it alone. Within an hour, your inbox should look something like this
as people start expressing an interest in the job. You can start looking at your applicants if
you want, but I recommend leaving it 24 hours to allow people to see and apply for the job
In the meantime, we're going to prepare some test jobs that we'll be sending to our artists once we
find someone that we like. Hopefully you've already got some ideas that you'd like to commission...
If you don't have any ideas, I recommend Merch Informer for Merch by Amazon designs.
You'll find a link in the description to sign up for a free trial. I just go on the Merch Hunter
section and sort by the top 500 best sellers to see what niches are popular right now, or use the
Trend Hunter module, which shows what's growing in popularity. You can cancel the trial when you're
done so you don't have to pay, or if you want to subscribe you can use the code "PASSIVEOWL"
to get 20% off. If you're looking for Redbubble information, there's the free popular tags tool
which shows what's growing in popularity week by week and it's updated every Monday. There's
a link in the description to this and I've got a video explaining how to use it in depth as well.
Once you've found some suitable niches and come up with some ideas that you'd like the artist to
create, we're going to prepare a test job for our chosen candidate to double check that they're up
to the task before pursuing a long-term agreement with them. While we're waiting for the artists to
express their interests, type up what you want in notepad so you're ready to paste it when you
found someone. Write down what you want as clear as possible and provide a visual example for them.
You might say something like "I want you to draw an orange octopus with socks on his tentacles"
"Underneath i wanted to say 'Sock-topus'". Now when we look on Google Images, we can see that there's many
ways that this could be interpreted. Is our idea a cartoon octopus or a real one? A cute one or an
angry one? The artist doesn't have access to what we're thinking, so it's important to provide as
much information as possible, as well as a visual, even if it's vague. It shows the kind of style that
we're expecting. Come up with two concepts that you'd like the artist to draw and have them ready
to copy paste when you find someone that you like the look of. When you go back to Upwork, you'll find
a significant number of people who've expressed an interest in the job. We're just going to go
down the list looking at their summary. Thumbs up shortlists the applicant, thumbs down hides them.
They don't get a notification about this, so don't worry about hurting anyone's feelings.
This is just a brief check to see who we're going to investigate further without going
into the profiles yet, so we're looking at what their tagline is which is this bit of bold text.
What their budget is - i.e is it appropriate to ours, or are they trying to charge way more?
If they're going way above what you expect to pay, just decline. We can also see their job success
rate and other information, like where they're from. We can click anywhere on this box to open
up their proposal and check if they've answered the questions appropriately. Some artists put
a link to their portfolio, or examples of their work in the cover letter but others you'll have
to scroll down to the bottom of the page to see their portfolio. It's just a case of going through
the list and seeing who we like the look of. We can also check their reviews from previous projects
to see what other people thought of working with them. Some will have amazing applications, but their
artwork's going to be terrible. It's just the case of looking through until we find someone who's
good enough to hire. When we've found someone that we like the look of, we can click "hire freelancer".
We'll be taken to the terms page where we can set our first milestone for the test job.
Click "deposit a lesser amount to cover the first milestone" and write the description of two test
designs. You can set a deadline of one or two days, then a fee of $8 to cover the cost of
the work. This money is held in escrow by Upwork until we agree to release it to the artist, which
will be after they've delivered the work. We'll have to add a billing method now which is either
a credit card or PayPal. Again there's a summary of the job, and we can click "hire". After this,
our offer will be sent to our chosen artist and it's up to them if they accept or not
We'll be asked by Upwork whether we're finished or plan to hire others. Click "I plan to hire
more freelancers for this job" so the job remains open to new proposals which will keep coming in
while we're waiting for the work to come back. If you've got a lot of ideas you can work with
multiple artists, but if it's your first time on Upwork, you might want to focus on just one at
first. Either way, leave it open to other applicants just in case the first one doesn't work out.
You can then message your chosen artist and copy-paste the test ideas that you came up with earlier
along with the visual references so they know what style you're looking for. We've put in as much
preparation as possible to get to this point and thoroughly vetted the candidates, so now it's time
to wait for the results to come back. If you're happy with the artwork that they've made, you can
continue to work together and set new milestones for each set of designs that you request. You just
need to focus on niche research and uploading the designs. If you get it right, your income will grow
and grow. It might get to the point where your chosen artist can't handle the amount of work
that you need by themselves, or maybe you just want some more variety. Just follow the same steps and
hire more people. Once you've established a good working relationship with all your freelancers,
you can ask your favorite artist if they want to become a project lead and manage the other
artists for you. This way, they can take control and lead which person's best for which design,
this frees you up to identify more profitable niches and increase your passive income.
I hope you found that helpful, and if you did, I would really appreciate if you give this video a thumbs up,
and subscribe to my channel. I release new content every week that will help you with your passive income.
And while you're here, have a look at some of the other videos that have been recommended.